#btw i start nursing school on monday and i have no idea wtf is going on. i dont even have my a&p textbook yet and im really stressed abt it

[shinraapologist]

light novel reread, vol. 2 ch. 5: right to the points

a lot of characters get a lot of good development and fleshing out in this chapter (this is also the chapter that has homophobic kadota in it. i chose to leave that part out tho lmao)

i feel like this chapter gives anri way more characterization than her introduction in volume one does, and honestly theres about as much personality for anri in this chapter alone than there is in the entire anime. so much of her processing and impact in the story and as a character is internal, and it just isnt something that translates well to a visual medium (or at least not something that translated well this time). the first time i watched through the anime i liked her enough, but she doesn't get as much development or onscreen action as some of the other characters enough for me to really grow attached to her, and the first time i read through the novels i don't think i really paused to appreciate the extra details and differences like i am this time. i think i'm going to end up liking her a lot more as we get further into the series.

like. this is my daughter. sorry

THEYRE! BEST! FRIENDS! YOUR! HONOR!

kadota's fucking brutal and i love him and ill never forgive narita for making him homophobic like. please look me in the eyes and tell me theres a cishet person in the van right now.

kadota: cmon. she's gonna get kidnapped by someone in a creeper van. saburo, lets follow her in our creeper van.

saburo's willing to risk not only the criminal record but the damage to his car to run some rando over to save anri (at this point in time, another rando) and i love him for that.

im a big fan of the way narita can write serious scenes and arcs while still maintaining a humorous narrative voice, its something he does very well in this chapter. ive mentioned before that his style is a big inspiration for my own writing (possibly cringe), and this is one of the aspects i hope to master for myself.

shes such a badass for this but then the next thought she has is how she thinks shinra would be upset to hear she called someone a piece of shit. as if shinra wouldnt wholeheartedly support literally anything celty does. as if he wouldnt try to be horny about it. come on girl use your brain

side tangent about their friendship: i think its incredibly beneficial to celty to have someone in her life who's accepting of her otherness without being obsessed with it or otherwise fetishizing it (sorry shinra). shizuo just takes her as she is; he couldnt give a fuck about her gender, her head or lack thereof, or much of anything else. he just likes her because she's not annoying and she understands him and shes a good listener. from shizuos perspective, it has to be equally beneficial to have someone else in his life that society sees as a "monster" and see celty living her semblance of a normal life with a partner and a steady job and a solid group of friends, as well as having someone in his life that's physically strong enough to not be harmed by him. shizuo and celty share some casual touch both in the anime in the novels, he claps her on the back a few times and interacts with her otherwise in ways he might be afraid to be close to someone else. theyre great for each other and they love each other so much and im going to slowly build a shizucelty army to go with my shincelty army to ultimately create a shizushincelty empire. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

here's haruna's introduction, i dont really have much to say about it to be honest. i like haruna in a very indifferent way. the rest of the chapter goes back and forth every few paragraphs between anri and haruna's conversation at anri's apartment to shinra and celty's conversation about saika and the kitchen knife back at their own apartment. its not the first instance of this kind of bouncing perspective, but it's becoming more frequent as the story is picking up and narita is becoming more comfortable writing the story/characters.